Means for treating dough



Aug. 28, 1945. M. COHEN ETAL 2,383,774

MEANS FOR TREATING DOUGH Original Filed Feb. 6, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 1fzveni or'a/ jifarrz's Co/"zen Juarci za Bloc/5,

Georgefiaagy m Gerai' axjo rzgerwoza 1945- Y I M. COHEN ETAL 2,383,774 II MEANS FOR TREATING DOUGH' Original Filed Feb. 6, 1942 2 Shets-Sheet 2@uard Z0, Knock Ge'or" eflaiiy and- Patented Aug. 28, 1945 MEAN S FORTREATING DOUGH Morris Cohen, Kansas City, Mo., and Duard W.

Enoch, George Hasty, and Gerald A. Jorgenson, Chicago, Ill., assignorsto Interstate Bakeries Corporation, Kansas City, Mo., a corporation ofDelaware Original application February 6, 1942, .Serial No. 429,764. nowPatent No. 2,352,617, dated July 4, 1944. Divided and this applicationDecember 13, 1943, Serial No. 514,040

7 Claims.

This invention relates to means for treating dough, more particularly inlarge scale bakery production where savings in time and labor cost areimportant, and where, together with such savings, improvements in thequality of the product are sought.

In the handling of dough for baking, it has been well known to move anelongate strip of dough along a conveyor belt and station a number ofmen, frequently as manyss five or six, at intervals along the length ofthe belt to coil the strip longitudinally by hand, so that it is formedinto a long relatively small diameter coiled cylinder having its axisextending in the direction of movement of the belt, whereupon theelongate cylinder may be cut by hand or by a power driven knife intoshort length cylindrical pieces to be placed in pans or the like forbaking.

The prior Fonken Patent No. 2,217,896 disclosed novel apparatus forfeeding a continuous strip of dough along a conveyor into contactwith aroller arranged obliquely to the conveyor on an angle extending morenearly in the direction of movement of the conveyor than at right,angles thereto, together with means for rotating the roller in adirection opposed at its periphery where engaged by the dough strip tothe direction of movement of the conveyor, to continuously coil thedough strip as it is fed by the conveyor, the coiled dough strip beinglater out into relatively short lengths for baking. The presentinvention is inclusive of both process and apparatus and is animprovement upon the disclosure of the Fonken patent both in means whichmay be employed with the broad disclosure of Fonken and in a methodadvantageous in connection therewith, and in an important aspect inprovision for accommodation of the coiling means to varying resistanceof the dough to coiling and to varying lateral positions of the doughstrip before coiling,

This application is a division of our co-pending application S. N.429,764,.filed February 6, 1942, and issued July 4, 1944, as Patent No.2,352,617, for method and means for treating dough.

The invention will be readily understood by reference to theaccompanying drawings showing a preferred form of apparatus embodyingthe invention and illustrative process steps employed in the practicethereof.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a sectional view, partly in elevation, of such apparatus,being a section taken on the line l-l of Fig. 3';

Figure 2 is a partial end view or section taken on the line 22 of Fig.1;

Figure 3 is a plan view of the structure shown in Figs. 1 and 2,together with a dough strip being treated;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of the leading end of thedough strip;

Figure 5 is a somewhat diagrammatic end view or section taken on theline 5-5 of Fig. 3 showing both apparatus and treated dough; and

Figure 6 is an enlarged perspective view of the dough piece ready forbaking.

Referring in detail to the drawings, the dough I0 (Fig. 3) may beprepared in the usual way,

advantageously by the use of dough conditioning machinery, notnecessary, for the purposes of the present invention; to be heredescribed, it being sumcient for present purposes to indi-' cate thatthe dough l0 may be first considered for the purposes of the presentinvention in the form of an elongate continuous strip, the leading andof such continuous strip having an appearance as suggested in theperspective view of Fig. 4. Upon the upper surface of this strip ofdough, as suggested in the drawings, and along one longitudinal marginthereof, as H, may be deposited by means not here necessary to bedescribed, a coating of water for sealing purposes presently furtherreferred to. e

The dough strip in is appropriately led onto a conveyor I! here shown inthe form of an endless canvas belt moving uniformly in the direction ofthe arrow l3 (by conventional conveyor belt mechanism not here shown) ona table It which includes side'rails l5 and I6 for supporting the tableand for guiding the belt thereverted U-shape, the frame leg l8 having acylindrical foot 20 received in a corresponding socket 2| in the bracketH to pivot the frame I9 thereon for swinging movement across theconveyor l2 in a plane parallel to the conveyor.

At its other end, the frame l9 has a somewhat shorter leg 22 which rideson an arcuate track 23 disposed transversely to span the conveyor beltI2 in relatively close proximity thereabove and fixed to suitablebrackets carried by the side rails l5 and I6, as at 24 and 25respectively. The arcuate track 23 is formed on an are concentric withthe pivot 20 and with a radius corresponding to the length of the framel9, so that the swinging end of the frame is supported in its movementscrosswise of the conveyor on the pivot 20. Thus, the frame may bearranged obliquely with respect to the conveyor I 2, and to fix itsoblique position selectively the track 28 may be. slotted longitudinallyas at 28 substantially throughout its arcuate distance to passtherethrough a headed set-screw 21 which enters the leg 22 of the frameand may be either loosened to permit manual cross-wise adjustment of theframe or tightened to clamp the leg 22 to the rail-28 to maintain suchselected adjustment.

Carried by the frame It and between the end legs l8 and 22 thereof isshown a relatively large roller 28 mounted on trunnions 29 and 80 at itsends respectively which are journalled in the frame. At the pivotal endof the frame Hi, the roller trunnion 28 is shown extended as at 3| tohave fixed thereon a sprocket wheel 32 upon which is entrained a drivechain 38 also in mesh with a sprocket 34 on the output shaft 85 of aspeed reducer 88 which is coupled with a prime mover such as theelectric motor 81, the electrical connections and control for which maybe conventional and need not be here shown. The speed reducer 38 may beprovided with a control lever 38 for varying the speed thereof as iswell known in the art. and the speed may be further reduced by makingthe sprocket wheel 34 on the output shaft of the reducer substantiallysmaller than the sprocket wheel 32 on the roller trunnion. The motor 31and the speed reducer 36 are conjunctively mounted on the web piece 39of the frame l8 to move with the frame and thus be always in operativeposition regardless of the position of the roller obliquely of theconveyor.

The arcuate track member 23 serves as a bridge member carried by tableor support l4 spanning the conveyor i2 and extending obliquely in theopposite direction to the obliquity of the roller, for adjustablysupporting the distal end of the roller adjacent the longitudinal centerline of the conveyor.

At the swinging end of the frame, the trunnion 38 of the roller 28 maybe journalled in a bearing block 40 which has sliding vertical movementin the frame leg 22, the latter being appropriately bifurcated for thispurpose as best shown in Fig. 2. Passing threadedly as at 22a throughthe upper end of the leg 22 as here indicated is a threaded turn-screw4| having its lower end swivelled in the bearing block 48 as at 42 andat its upper end provided with a hand wheel 48. Thus by manipulation ofthe hand wheel 43 the bearing block 58 may be raised or lowered in theframe leg 22 and the swinging end of the roller 28 maybe angularlyadjusted in a plane normal to the conveyor belt l2 in any position ofthe frame transversely of the belt.

The arrangement is such that the roller 28 rotates in the direction ofthe arrow 44 (Figs. 3 and and thus functions as a pick-up roller. Theroller desirably has a peripheral covering 45 advantageously of canvassimilar to the canvas conveyor belt l2 which is thus moderately but nottoo smooth. The diameter of the roller 28 (in one instance, say,approximately 12 inches) is desirably greater than the width of thedough strip l0 (which may be, say, approximately 8 inches), and thedough strip [8 here shown is substantially narrower than the conveyorbelt i2 (which may he, say, 24 inches wide) so that the dough stripcarried by the conveyor l2 in the direction of the arrow l3, may beadvanced initially along one side of the conveyor belt l2, namely theside nearest to the pivot of the roller, the dough having beenpreviously so sheeted.

The angle of the roller, indicated by the letter "x," in a planeparallel with the belt is preferably, for the arrangement here shown,approximately twenty degrees from a straight longitudinal position, assuggested by an imaginary line 48, to the axis of the roller, assuggested by an imaginary line 41. Thus the roller extends desirablymore nearly in the direction of movement of the conveyor than at rightangles thereto while at the same time extending entirely across thedough strip. In the plane normal to the conveyor belt the roller 28 isdesirably adjusted so that its distal or swinging end is a little higher(say inch) than its proximal or pivoted end, providing a graduated space48 between the roller and belt at the distal end. Variations in theseangles for purposes of the present invention will be later pointed out.The proximal end of the roller will be seen to be practcially tangentwith the belt I2, 50 that the dough strip cannot pass completelythereunder.

So constructed and arranged, when the leading edge 48 (Fig. 4) of theinitially leading end of the dough strip l0 moves in the direction ofthe arrow l3 carried by the conveyor belt i 2, it

will engage the roller 28 first at the corner of the strip which willpass partially under the roller 28 to a point say A just short of thegreatest diameter of the roller. Thereupon it will begin to be coiledupon itself, by the combined action of the moving belt and rotatingroller. It has been found in the practice of the present invention thatthe peripheral speed of the roller at its periphery where engaged by thedough is desirably greater than and substantially in excess of thelinear speed of the conveyor with the dough thereon. For example, ifthe-speed of the belt is approximately 40 feet per minute,

- the speed of the roller may well he say 18 revolutions per minute or aperipheral speed of approximately 55- feet per minute. Thus, as thedough strip begins to be coiled, by the joint action of the moving beltand rotating roller, and friction between the dough and the periphery ofthe roller, the coiled dough begins to rotate due to the reater speed ofthe roller and the fact that the surface of the roller is onlymoderately smooth. Consequently, the dough is coiled upon itself fasterthan it is moved longitudinally and a minimum of helical coiling occursat the leading end of the dough strip. Such helical coiling isundesirable, and is practically eliminated by the present invention. Ifany portion of the leading end of the dough strip need be discarded forthis reason, in the practice of the present invention, it is so small asto be negligible.

It will be understood from the foregoing that for a given run ofproduction, the dough strip in may be continuous and may be producedwithout a break practically indefinitely.

As the dough strip moves farther along in the direction of the arrow 13sufficiently under the roller 28 to engage the roller, it is coiledthroughout its width, intermediately in a tapered coil as indicated at5! (Fig. 3). During this coiling of the dough strip an advantageouswedging action occurs due to the progressively increasing diameter ofthe intermediate coiled portion SI of the strip which wedging actionmildly but not too vigorously works the dough together somewhat.Accommodation for theincreasing diameter of the dough as it is thuscoiled is made by the graduated space 48 which may be increased ordecreased (by manipulation of the hand wheel 43) as the width andthickness of the dough strip l may be varied. In this instance the doughstrip Ill may be, say, approximately A, inch thick initially, and themaximum diameter of the dough strip when coiled, will in the proportionsgiven for illustrative purposes, be approximately 1 inches. Thus, thediameter of the roller I2 is desirably about eight times that of thedough as finally coiled.

It is to be borne in mind that as the dough is being coiled, for exampleat 5|, it is rotating faster than it is moving forward, dueto theperiphery of the roller being not too smooth and thus transmitting atleast some of its excess speed of rotation to the dough. As the doughcannot pass completely under the roller at the greatest diameter of theroller, the dough is thus displaced laterally on the belt, fast enoughto minimize the production of a helical spiral in the coiled dough. Itis desirable that the coiled dough strip should move laterally on thebelt l2 as a resultant of the actions of the longitudinally moving beltand the rotatively moving roller, and it will be seen from Fig. 3 of thedrawings that the dough strip as it emerges from underneath the roller28 has been displaced laterally on the belt I2 toward the side of thebelt opposite to that upon which the roller 28 is pivoted, slippagebetween rdller and dough permitting this.

It has been found that the angle X of the roller may be adjusted, inpractice after the initial position of the dough strip has beendetermined as it moves onto the belt 12 at the right hand side of Fig.3, so that the longitudinal edge 52 of the dough strip, that is the edgewhich is nearest the center line of the belt, makes one completerevolution under the influence of the roller 28, so as to displace thisedge laterally of the conveyor belt to a position indicated at 53 inwhich the edge 52 is directly at the bottom of the coil as seen fromFigs. ,3 and 5, and the final wedging action as the dough coil emergesfrom under the roller 28 thus assists in sealing this otherwise freeedge of the coil to the other spirals of the coil, which sealing actionis assisted by the moistening of the margin llof the dough strip alongthis edge as already referred to. The fact'that the dough is subject'tothe rotative action of the roller 28 while the edge 52 of the doughstrip is being moved laterally to the position at 53 contributes furtherto the sealing action just referred to.

It has been found that with a dough strip as here shown a rollerofapproximately twelveinch diameter provides the optimum of wedgingaction on the coiled dough cylinder 54 by reason of the somewhat angularspace B (Fig. 5) which the coiled dough traverses between the belt I2and the periphery of the roller 28 at the distal end of the roller.Progressive reduction of the diameter of the roller would rapidlydiminish such ,wedging action while a progressive increase in thediameter, above, say, 12 inches, would only slightly increase suchwedging action. As already explained, the provision for adjustment ofthe swinging end of the roller and adjustment also in a plane normal tothe conveyor belt, will accommodate normal or slight variations in thethickness of the dough strip. If a substantially thicker dough stripwere desired to be employed, increasing materially the diameter of thefinally coiled dough cylinder, a roller of larger diameter might well beemployed, the proportions here suggested being illustrative. For suchhere shown illustrative proportions, the roller has a length of say 36inches.

Furthermore, as the dough emerges from under the roller, under thecontinued advancing influence of the belt l2, the coiled dough cylinder54 immediately ceases to rotate and the sealed edge 52 therefore remainsat the bottom of the coil, as i'shighly desirable, for the purpose ofmaintaining this seal until it is set, by an interval of time, with theweight of the coil thereon, the coiled dough cylinder passing under thetrack 23.

Moreover, it will be seen that the coil as it emerges from under theroller is not in the form of a helix. In other words, as appears fromFigs. 3 and 5, when the coiled dough emerges from under the roller,after the first few inches of the leading edge 49 of the dough strip illhave gone by, the spirals 55 of the coiled dough are advantageously inthe same transverse plane or describe what may be called a flat spiraland not a helical spiral.

Consequently, by the practice of the present invention, the doughcylinder 5Q afterit has passed the roller 28 may be immediately severedinto short cylindrical sections 56, one of which is shown in perspectivein Fig. 6. This severing may be done by say a power driven knife, forexample, which need not be here specifically described. Thesecylindrical dough sectionemay then be placed in pans or trays to belater baked.

It is desirable to maintain the sealed edge 52 of the coil directly atthe bottom of the coil as shown,

" for the additional reason that the distal edge of the roller, as thecoil leaves the roller, is thus prevented from contacting the edge 52after the seal is once made, which contact might otherwise tend toreopen the seal. Furthermore, in severing the sections 56, as the knifeis brought down upon the coil, here again, any tendency of the knifeblade to re-open the seal is counteracted by the fact that the sealededge is between the coil and the conveyor belt and is thus held againstre-opening.

If the present invention be used for the making 'of rolls or buns inwhich sweetening or the like is spread upon the dough strip before itengages the roller, the convolutions or spirals 55 of the coil will ofcourse remain apparent at the ends of the sections 56, this for examplebeing indicated in Fig. 6, and this is of course not undesirable for saycinnamon buns or certain other classes of bakery products. If cinnamonrolls, for example, are being produced, the cylindrical sections 55 maybe preferably shorter and even say of less length than their diameter,so a to be disposed on end in the baking pans,

On the other hand, if the invention be used to produce coiled doughsections without extraneous ingredients upon the dough strip, and sayfor bread, the convolutions or spirals of the coil will tend todisappear when the dough is treated in accordance with the presentinvention, so that advantageously when the coiled cylindrical sectionsare proofed and baked, the dough will become substantially homogeneousand a slice of such baked bread may be broken in half without the breaktending to follow the original spirals. This is highly desirable whenthe invention is used for baking bread.

At the same time, the continuous treatment here described with itsabsence of manual handling of the dough and with a minimum of mechanicaltreatment of the dough','has been found In any use hereof, thecontinuity of the process and the reduction of manual labor involvedcontributes to a substantial reduction in cost.

Anti-friction bearings for the roller trunnions 29 and 30 in the frameI! may be provided including self-aligning spherical bearing units I8bfor the trunnion 29, and 40a, for the trunnion 30. The spherical bearingunit Mb will rotate in the bearing block i8a of the leg l9 toaccommodate raising or lowering of the bearing block and, similarly, thespherical bearing 40a will rotate in the bearing block 40 to accommodatesuch angular adjustment.

Desirably the angle of the intermediate tapered coil is, as shown, suchthat the axis of the coil is more nearlyin the direction of movement ofthe dough strip l0 than it is transverse to such movement. Thus, whenthe angle X is of the order of twenty degrees, similarly the angle whichthe intermediate coil 5| makes with the dirction of movement of thedough strip i0 is also advantageously of the order of twenty degrees.The point A varies somewhat, being generally nearer the greatestdiameter of the roller when the leading corner 5|) of the dough strip l0initially engages the roller and then tending to travel backwardsomewhat as the strip is coiled upon itself, thus coiling thedough stripmore nearly on its longitudinal axis.

Having described the invention, what is here claimed is:

1. In apparatus for treating dough for bakery purposes, the combinationwith a conveyor for moving a flat strip of dough thereon, of a rollerdisposed obliquely to the conveyor in the path of the dough, said rollerbeing of a diameter greater than the width of the dough strip andadapted to rotate at its periphery where engaged by thedough in adirection opposed to the direction of movement of the conveyor and doughstrip, the rolle being mounted in a frame pivoted at the proximal end ofthe roller to swing across the conveyor belt, means at the distal end ofthe roller for adjusting the degree of swing, and means at the distalend of the roller for adlusting the elevation of the roller at said end,said adjusting means comprising an arcuate track disposed above theconveyor transversely thereof and a sliding connection between the frameand track, and a sliding connection between the roller and frame.

2. In apparatus for treating dough for bakery purposes, thecombinationwith a conveyor for moving a flat strip of dough thereon, ofa. roller disposed obliquely to the conveyor in the path of the doughand adapted to rotate at its periphery wh'ere engaged by the dough in adirection opposed to the direction of movement of the conveyor and doughstrip, the roller being mounted in a frame pivoted at the proximal endof the roller to swing across the conveyor belt, means at the distal endof the roller for adjusting the degree of swing, and means at the distalend of the roller for adjusting the elevation of the roller in the frameat said end. v

3. In apparatus for treating dough for bakery purposes, the combinationwith a conveyor for moving a flat strip of doughthereon, of a rollerdisposed obliquely to the conveyor in the path of the dough and adaptedto rotate at its periphery at the distal end of the roller for adjustingthe degree of swing, a motor reducer mechanism carried by the frame, anda driving connection between the motor reducer mechanism and the roller.

4. In apparatus for treating dough for-bakery purposes, the combinationwith a conveyor for moving-a continuous flat strip of dough thereon,

- of an elongate roller disposed obliquely over the conveyor and adaptedto contact the elongated dough strip intermedially oi the length of thedough stri and angularly to the dough strip, a mounting frame for theroller, a pivotal support for the frame whereby the angle of the rollermay be varied, a motor reducer mechanism carried by the frame, and adriving connection between the motor reducer mechanism and the rollerfor rotating the roller in a direction 0pposed at its periphery whereengaged by the dough strip to the direction of movement of the conveyor.

5. In apparatus for treating dough for bakery purposes, the combinationwith a support, of a conveyor belt arranged to travel on the support formoving a flat strip of dough thereon at one side thereof, an elongatepick-up roller having proximal and distal ends and mounted on thesupport obliquely to the conveyor in the path of the dough to cell thedough, said roller being mounted at its proximal end on the supportadlacent said side of the conveyor with its axis inclined in a planenormal to the conveyor whereby the roller is spaced above the conveyor agreater distance at its distal end than at its proximal end toaccommodate the increased diameter of the coiled dough as it is coiled,and means for rotating the roller in a direction opposed at itsperiphery where engaged by the dough to the direction of movement of theconveyor whereby the dough is picked up and coiled diagonally andsomewhat longitudinally by the roller and is shifted toward the otherside of the conveyor by the movement of the conveyor and roller.

6. In apparatus for continuously treating dough for bakery purposes, thecombination with a support, of a conveyor belt arranged to travel on thesupport for moving a flat strip of dough thereon at one side thereof, anelongate pick-up roller having proximal and distal ends andmounted onthe support obliquely to the conveyor in the path of the dough strip,said roller being pivotally mounted at its proximal end on the supportadjacent said side of the conveyor with its axis inclined in a planenormal to the conveyor whereby the roller is spaced above the conveyor agreater distance at its distal end than at its proximal end, and saidroller being also adjustable in a direction parallel to the direction ofmovement of the conveyor whereby to accommodate varying positions of thedough strip on the conveyor while maintaining the inclination of itsaxis in the plane normal to the conveyor, means connected with theproximal end of the roller for rotating the roller in a directionopposed at its periphery where engaged by the dough strip to thedirection of movement of the conveyor whereby the dough strip is pickedup and coiled diagonally and somewhat longitudinally by the roller andis shifted toward the other side on the conveyor by the movement of theconveyor and roller, and whereby the angulation of the roller normal tothe conveyor accommodates the increased diameter of the coiled dough asit is coiled.

'7. In apparatus 4 for continuously treating dough for bakery purposes,the combination with a support, of a conveyor belt arranged to travel onthe support for moving a flat strip of dough thereon, a rotatable shafthaving proximal and distal ends mounted on the support on opposite sidesof the conveyor obliquely to the conveyor, a roller-fixed on said shaft,said roller being in the path of the dough strip and extending morenearly in the direction of movement of the conveyor than at right anglesthereto, the mounting for the shaft including a bracket extending within the vertical projection of the conveyor carried by the support at thedistal end of the shaft extending obliquely in the opposite direction tothe obliquity of the shaft and supporting the distal end of the shaft,driving means connected with the proximal end of the shaft for rotatingthe roller in a direction opposed at its periphery where engaged by thedough to the direction of movement of the conveyor whereby the dough ispicked up and coiled angularly and somewhat longitudinally and isshifted sidewise on the conveyor in order to pass around and beyond thedistal end of said shaft; the coiled dough extending in a directionwhich is more nearly that of direction of movement of the conveyor thanat right angles thereto, and a passageway under said bracket for passingsaid coiled dough action of the rotating roller and moving conveyor.

MORRIS COHEN. DUABD w. ENOCH. GEORGE HASTY. GERALD A. JORGENSON.

Disclaimer 2,383,774.M0rris Cohen, Kansas City, Mo., and Daard W. Enoch,George Hasty, and Gerald A. Jorgensort, Chicago, 111. MEANS FOR TREATINGDOUGH.

Patent dated Aug. 28, 1945. Disclaimer filed Oct. 16, 1948, by theassignee,

Interstate Bakeries Corporation. Hereby enters this disclaimer to claim7 of said patent.

[Ofiieial Gazette November 16, 1.948.]

